The List
T
by Wally Jaczkowski
o know your client is to succeed, whether you’re selling
insurance or selling apples.
Rule number one in the business world is
to figure out exactly who your target audience is, what they want and how to give it to them. To best adhere to this rule, it’s a
good idea to get some outside help. You’re running a business; you don’t have time to send out surveys, right? Luckily, help exists
in abundance, in the form of marketing
research companies. Below is a list of what we believe to be the top of the crop, with services ranging from small business to global corporation research assistance.
• Polaris MR, www.polarismr.com, 866-217-7014, Full-service
major companies providing proprietary research, customer insight,
1989, Polaris offers premier survey programs for customer satis-
• Mintel, www.mintel.com, 212-796-5710, Business Marketing
Marketing Research. Successfully providing quality service since
faction and loyalty, brand research, and new product development research.
• TNS Global, www.tnsglobal.com, 212-991-6194, Global
Marketing Research. TNS is a custom market research company
organized around its clients’ industry sectors. It prides itself on
leading market intelligence, delivering information, analysis and
critical recommendations. Its portfolio of proprietary industry solutions has been supporting high-profile clients in key sectors such as financial services, media, retail and leisure.
• Nielsen, en-us.nielsen.com, Consumer Goods, Media,Telecom
• Experian Simmons, www.smrb.com, 212-471-2850, American
clients a precise understanding of the consumer is the key to mak-
Marketing Research. Experian Simmons is a leading source of
high-quality research and single-source measurement of the brand
preferences, lifestyle, attitudes and media usage behaviors of the American consumer.
• J.D. Power and Associates, www.jdpower.com, 805-418-8000, Full-service Marketing Research. J.D. Power and Associates is
a global marketing information firm that conducts independent and unbiased surveys of customer satisfaction, product quality and buyer behavior.
• Kelton Research, www.keltonresearch.com, 310-479-4040, Business-specific Marketing Research. Kelton Research’s unique methodologies, interviewers and analyses aim to do more
than just give you the data: they strive to bring the data to life. This firm is definitely geared toward the most individualized researching possible.
• Forrester Research, www.forrester.com, 617-613-5730, Technology/Marketing Research. Forrester is an independent
Fall 2010
Research. Mintel is an award-winning provider of world-
speaking its clients’ language to help them make better business decisions.
research company that provides advice to global leaders in busi-
ness and technology. It works with professionals in 19 key roles at
30
consulting and executive programs.
Marketing Research. The Nielsen team believes that providing ing the right decisions. Nielsen is always innovating to keep
pace with emerging market trends and the increasingly diverse, demanding and connected consumer.
• Talk of the Town, www.talkofthetownaward.com, 877-498-
6405, Small-business Reputation Management Research. Talk of the Town is part of Celebration Media, a marketing, research and publishing company that provides much-needed feedback to help companies gain the winning edge that attracts
new business. It posts the results of thousands of hours of surveying the most widely used user-review websites to determine a rating system for customer satisfaction, all at no charge to the business owner.
• Customer Care News, www.customercarenews.com, Customer/Client Relations Research. Customercarenews.com
was created to shed light on high achievers in the area of customer satisfaction and customer care. The publication covers the leading industry providers of education and resources, which are vital
to assisting companies in improving their customer satisfaction scores. CCN
Customer Care News